The Website Mojo site is complete. Of course we will always be tweaking our story and adding content, but it’s ready. We have our business cards and it’s time to start networking!
Why is business networking so important? It is a strategic and powerful part of our marketing efforts. We always generate business from networking. It’s an opportunity for other business people to get to know, like and trust us. It’s an opportunity for us to tell our story. And we know from experience that the more we are able to do this the more successful we will be.
As some of you know we have lived a few places since our daughter went off to college and we’ve done business networking everywhere we’ve lived. But this time we have created Website Mojo, our new brand, and we are living in a new place, Marble Falls, Texas. We are super excited to talk to people and share what we have learned about online marketing and how to grow a prosperous business!
You may be somewhat scared to go into a networking group, but if you are at all inclined to attend, then you should go. Networking provides a very basic value for your business, the opportunity to tell others what you do! Don’t hesitate to take someone with you if you want to; someone from your business or a friend who can help you tell your story, or another business owner you know. It’s always easier to go in pairs.
Some of you might not have a strategy for networking, and we know it’s a powerful way to get the word out about what we do. So, we wanted to share our strategy here.
- Joining The Local Chamber of Commerce – The first thing we will do is join the Chamber of Commerce here in Marble Falls. We know that they have a local monthly mixer; a place to tell our story, meet other business owners and learn more about different networking groups. Then we will for sure contact other Chambers around and plan to join those too. There is a yearly cost to join a Chamber of Commerce, and we may need to space out the costs in a way that’s best for our business.
- Use the Internet To Find Other Groups – From there we will use the internet to search for groups around our area who meet regularly. Meetup.com is a very good place to start your search. They are organized and usually have meetings scheduled around you, no matter where you are. We found two that are about 30 to 40 minutes away from us. Both of the meetings we have found are ready to help us get business and of course we are happy to return the favor.
- Asking Around – When we go to the meetings we have found we will be asking about other meetings in our area. We have always gained more information about meetings from talking to others at networking functions.
The strategy at the meetings…
- We will usually have a chance to tell what it is we do, so we want to be prepared with a 30 second to 1 min commercial. And we will take business cards to share.
- We will meet other business owners and hear their story and tell them ours. This is another chance for others to hear what we do.
- As we do this we will exchange business cards and ask if they are on social media. Most people are on one or more sites. Those business cards are so valuable. With them we will add to our online network by connecting with them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. These are the platforms we have chosen to use. This is a great way to continue to support other people’s businesses and to stay connected.
Business networking meetings are fun and enjoyable, and a great way to meet some awesome business people and to become part of the community. We encourage you to go through the discomfort of first meetings and take the plunge. You’ll be glad you did!
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